Animal Instincts
by K1w1-chi
Summary: Sage and her friend Echo are suddenly killed by a train after school. When they wake up in a cell with extra appendages, what are they to do? Where are they? What are they to do in this world? Will they screw up the plot to this story? Rated T for cussing *Slight Crack Story* *No Pairings*
1. Pilot

"I can't believe you did that." My friend said with a frown. "You better fucking believe it." I said while smirking and she let out a huge sigh. "Sage, you really are going to die one day." My dearest friend, Echo, said while looking at me. "You know you adore me in every way and form." I said with a smirk. What was Echo so worried about? Well you see I had told a teacher to suck it when she yelled at me because I didn't do my homework. Smartest choice in my life? No. Was it so totally worth the look on her face? Hell ya!

We were currently walking home from school. Echo had waited an extra thirty minutes after school since I got a detention, so I decided I'd get her some icecream to make up for it. We got to the small shop and my friend ordered what she wanted as did I and I paid for it and we left, continuing on the path home. We were just talking and walking when we heard the screech of a car while crossing the road and then a searing pain. Then it started to get dark really fast and before I knew it I was gone.

My eyes opened and once I saw a dim light I quickly closed them with pain and I heard some shuffling next to me. My eyes flickered beneath the eyelids and I heard a small huff that sounded every so familiar. "Echo…?" I asked and I heard a nod and some chains jingling. "It's me, Sage." She said and I slowly opened my eyes. I saw the room was made of cement looking material and the dim light were two torches hanging on the wall.

I slowly got raised myself from my laying position and relaxed against the wall closest to me. I inspected myself and saw I had a chain on my neck that connected to a collar that had a padlock. They were all made of metal so it would be pointless to try and break them. I felt something odd in my stomach and I guessed it might've been anxiety building up. "Where are we…?" I asked ina raspy voice and Echo shrugged.

"I woke up about an hour ago and there haven't been anyone walking past that door." She said, pointing to across the room where there was a door with a small window that had bars on it. "How long are these chains…?" I asked her and she shrugged. "I can walk to the door just fine so I would say a decent length to walk with." She said and I nodded.

Where were we? Didn't I die by that car or truck? Truth be told I didn't pay attention to my killer at all. I looked at over at Echo and her usual brown hair was now a silvery color and there was a bandage going around her head and her eyes were now a dark brown opposed to her usual light brown color. I looked her over and noticed that her waist had a bandaged wrapped around it as well and I got curious.

"You're hurt?" I asked and she shook her head and I sighed. "You sure, you have band aids all over." I said, moving my hand to her head. "You do too." She said with a small pout and I frowned. Now that she mentioned it my head hurt, as did my lower back; it was probably a side effect of getting run over. "They're both awake." I heard a low whisper come from somewhere in the premises.

Echo scooted closer to me as we stared at the door. A little while later it slowly opened up to reveal an older looking man with a large scar going across his right eyebrow. He had tanned skin and grey hair, so he was obviously aged. "How are you two feeling…?" He asked us once he saw us glaring at him. "Just fuckin' dandy…" I hissed and he frowned before smiling again.

"Well it seems you still have your spirit, so that's good. Although a cute little thing like you shouldn't be so upset. Cute thing? I hated being called cute, it was annoying and it rarely ever happened since I wasn't exactly a little pocket puppy cute girl. I was more of the 'fuck off man' type of girl. I mean I was short, but that's the only cute thing about me. Other than that I was just a vicious bad-mouthed twelve year old girl.

I was unlike Echo since she was about 5'5" and acted like a sweet person most of the time. Although if you really get to know her she's almost as bad as me, she's just a politer version of me. "My little fox, you should be nicer to me. After all, if I hadn't chosen you two, you'd be dead." He said while holding his hands behind his back.

"You save us to trap us in some cell?" I asked with a small laugh before glaring at him, "Please, keep telling yourself you're a good person." I finished and he looked a bit mad, but he was keeping his composure. "Listen, you two are just some of my recent line of experiments on humans and animals. I take young children from a world without chakra and fuse them with a creature in this world that had chakra and save both lives. Of course the animal in you might come out with your behavior, you're still in control of your body." He explained and I glared daggers at him, although Echo looked shocked.

"Chakra?" She asked and he smiled before nodding. "In your world this is a mere TV show, but I assure you it's very real. Kashimoto was originally apart of this world, although from the future, and he decided to tell the experiences of a good friend he had, although he never included himself in the show. He then went back and erased his past self from this world to make his story more realistic." He explained and I nodded slowly. So we were in a TV show now?

"So we're in…Naruto?" Echo squeaked out and he nodded. "That is what you call it, yes. You two are now a part of this world, welcome to it. Your old selves in your world are forever lost and the new you is now forever fund here. I have a couple other children in other rooms you see and I have to check up on them. We'll be testing you two with your new abilities and see if it can be used for my purposes and if it doesn't then we'll…find a new use for you. Until you're well enough to be tested you'll stay in this cell and have a doctor visit you and have a guard bring you food. Please stay healthy and sane until then." He said before waving us off and leaving us behind.

No later did a doctor come inside the room, two to be exact, and they removed our bandages. I glanced over at the clipboards and read it; even though it was a different language I was able to understand it in some strange way. Spotted Genet and Fennec Fox? What are those, I mean the fox was easy but what breed was it, that I didn't know. Not to mention who was who.

They finished undoing the Band-Aids and started to poke the new appendages and such and even got some flashlights to stick in our ears. We no longer had ears on the side of our head; at least I assumed I didn't either since Echo didn't. It was just smooth and then she had some ears poking up from the top of her head. It looked slightly feline, but yet not at the same time.

I saw Echo cover her mouth to not squeal and I looked at her quizzically. "You're ears are huge." She whispered and my face went red and I looked down. That's when my hair fell over my eyes and I looked at it. The hair was…cream colored and it was shorter than I was used to. My hair used to be black and go to my waist and now it went a little past my chin and was a creamy color.

The bandages around our waists were undone next and it hurt like a botch. I looked down and saw a cream colored tail that was slightly darker at the end. The doctors ran various tests and checked our hearing and our sight and once it was all checked out they left. A minute later a guard came back with some food for us and we ate silently. The food was gross, but we didn't have the right position to complain.

We ate in silence and once we were finished they took the trays out and opened a small door that was concealed by something and they did some magic thing and it opened. Once that was done we realized it was just a bathroom, but on the plus side they gave us a both a blanket and pillow to sleep on the ground with. We both used the sink to wash our skin from the dirt before drying off with the rag clothes we were wearing before falling asleep huddle next to each other.

Bright in the morning, I would assume, food was brought then the doctors came in. This went on for a long time and I don't know how many days passed. We didn't have any windows to know the time so we just ate when hungry and slept when we were tired. The doctors kept doing tests until they deemed us healthy enough to run through experiments.

That's when he came back; the man with the scar, that's what I'd call him from now on, Scar. He smiled at us before had two guards come in and take the chains off the wall and made us walk alongside them. They used them like collars and they dragged us to a rather large room with various equipment. There they started the experiments.

First was the running, then the hearing and sight, then the hunting, then the strength. We ended up passing these categories and he seemed pleased enough. "It seems like you two were successful. Now I'll have someone escort you to your new rooms. You'll find these ones far more suitable than your previous room and you'll be given some clothes in your new closet. Take them." He said the last part to the guards as they took us by the leash again and dragged us with them.

We came across a large silver door that they pulsed chakra into and the door opened to reveal a hallway. We walked alongside the large hallway and it seemed like a hotel and it even had various doors with name tags on them so we knew what room was what. The rooms were spaces apart generously and the hallway had many twists and turns. I even saw some kids with ears and tails running around, although they looked like maids and butlers if anything.

Was that what happened if we failed. We'd have to do servitude for the rest of our lives? Or maybe this is what we are going to be doing. We kept walking until we were at the end of the hallway and there were two doors across from each other. "This is your new living quarters. You can come and go as you please to other rooms and even the common rooms. There are servants if you need them and other people like you that you are free to get to know. You'll be given a schedule in due time of how you'll be training. As long as you follow the rules and behave you can move around this place as you wish. As long as you don't try to leave through the silver door." The large man said as he took off the collars on our necks and they dropped to the ground with a thud.

The nodded before leaving us then two females came over to us. "You're Ms. Sage and Ms. Echo. We'll help you wash up and serve you meals in here." They said while bowing their heads. They were in maid uniforms and we just nodded, not knowing how to react to this. They took us into our separate rooms and the girl ended up bathing me, much to my distaste and laid out some clothes for me.

Once I was dressed all nicely in a simple brown sundress and white stockings, once again much to my disgust, I was brought out to a large meal and ended up eating slowly and finished it. "Can I see Echo?" I asked and she nodded. "Please knock before entering Ms. Echo's room." She said and opened the door for me. I walked over and knocked and suddenly the door was opened from another servant.

"If you need us, simply call." They said before leaving. Echo was dressed in a black long-sleeved dress that reached her knees and then white stockings and a white scarf. She hugged me tightly and let out a small whimper. "I want to go home." She said and I nodded. "I want to go home too." I said and she nodded into my shoulder. We walked into her room and it was large. I hadn't really looked in mine but she had a table to the right like mine did so that was a similarity.

Her bed was off to the far left and it was a tree like thing that went to the roof and in the middle was a large bed for her to sleep in. it was odd, but I decided not to say anything. The carpet was a brownish green and reminded me slightly of grass. It was a bit calming and we walked over to a small sitting area and we just sat there until we were tired.

"I'm going to my room to sleep, goodnight." I whispered and she nodded before she went where her ned was and ended up climbing up and laying down. I looked at the ceiling and she clapped her hands and the small sun thing suddenly rotated to a moon and the room was dark. That was cool.

I went to my bedroom and looked around. The floor was the sandy color like my hair and my bed was in the corner. It was a little dome around it that reminded me of a burrow and many pillows littered the area. I crawled in there and clapped my hands and just like Echo's room, the room turned to night. I slept soundlessly that night.

* * *

_Okay so this is a new fan fiction I'm starting and it will be finished, although it will be a bit on the short side. This isn't one of my most serious stories I've ever written, this was more of I wanted to write over the weekend and her is the end result. I didn't edit or revise it nor did I grammar or spell check it so it will most likely have mistakes in it. I hope you guys like this story and I'll try to update every Sunday and Wednesday. Also the story is very rushed so there's a heads up. Anyway if you like it please review and tell me, love you all~ Bye!_


	2. New Home

I woke up to a knock at the door and cracked my eyes open. I wasn't a morning person, nor was I cranky when I woke up. When I woke up I was just tired for a bit until I was awake and my day started from there. I got up and opened the door while rubbing my eyes and saw one of the servants with a tray of food. I motioned her in while yawning and once the food was put down she left and I sat down and ate in silence until I heard the door open.

I knew it wasn't a servant since they seemed terrified to act out of line. Instead my small, silver haired friend was in here. She walked over with her tray of food and ate with me. "This place is so weird…" She mumbled beneath her breath while taking a bite of French toast. "I wonder what we'll be doing today?" I asked her and she shrugged. "Who knows…did you also sleep in those clothes?" Echo asked and I nodded. "I was too tired to change out of them." I admitted and she nodded in response.

"So…where did you sleep?" She asked and I shrugged. "I slept in my barrow." I said, pointing to my little cave and she nodded. "I think they made our rooms based on the animal we are related to. I mean, if I knew what a Genet was I'd probably be able to confirm that. I think foxes live in barrows though so that mch is good." She said and I nodded.

I heard footsteps coming close and stopped eating to look at the door. "What is it?" She asked me and I shrugged. "Someone is coming." I whispered and she looked at the door as well. A minute later someone knocked and I gave the command to come in. A large man, probably a guard, came in and looked at us. "I've been told to make sure you get dressed properly and escort you to the training rooms." He said and we nodded.

"I'll see you in a minute." Echo said while putting her food to the side and I did the same. The man left and settled himself near the closed door as I got into some clothes for training, whatever training they wanted us to do. The training clothes consisted of a white t-shirt and a baby brown jacket on top of it along with a pair of black shorts and some strange sandals thing.

I finished and walked out of the room. The man nodded and I saw Echo wearing a long sleeved grey shirt that had its collar up to the neck, hiding it. She wore long back pants and the same sandals I wore along with her now long hair up in a ponytail. She waved at me with a small smile and I returned it. "Follow us if you don't know where the training room is." The guard said and we nodded.

We walked through two hallways before we came to a rather large room. The ceiling was high up and there were trees and other things in it. The place was still in whatever we were living at, but it looked like it was outside. "This is the free for all training grounds. You'll be tested in here." The guard said and Echo and I looked at him in a confused manner.

"I thought we were already tested." I stated and he nodded. "This is for what place you'll be living in, your clan. We test you to see how strong you are and place you accordingly and move your room to the correct hall. The ranks from highest to lowest it Fire, Shadow, Cloud, and Tear. Depending on where you end up is depending whom you'll associate with along with the missions you'll be assigned once you're strong enough. The higher up you are the more superior you are to others. You are now part of Namida Village, or the Tear village." He explained and we nodded.

"If the Tear clan is at the bottom of the list, why is the village the tear village?" I asked him and he looked down at us. "It was the first formed clan that the Father made. This is a very new village that others don't know about yet. Our goal is to take over the place." The guard said and we nodded. "Who's father?" I asked him. "You've met him before, the man with the scar. You are to refer to him as Father while you're here." The guard said and we nodded again.

"Off to testing, Father will be here shortl…" he was saying before Father came in and looked at us. "I'm already here so you're dismissed. Echo and Sage, it's good to see you. You'll be training with Kunai throwing, sneaking, and taijutsu today." Father explained to us and we nodded. "First off, to the throwing fields." He said while having us follow him. We got to a place with several throwing boards and he gave us each five knife like things. "Try to hit the center from that tape right there." He said and we nodded.

I threw the five of mine and only one hit the board itself. Echo hit the target with all five kunai and one got the middle. "Good." He said and marked it off on a clipboard before we were told to sneak past a guard and get a shuriken from his pocket. I failed and Echo won. The last test was a spar with the two of us. I got into a stance as did Echo and when he said to go we both staled for a moment. Neither of us wanted to hurt the other, so when Echo ran to me first I was caught off guard.

She landed a kick to my side before I even noticed she moved then she hit the back of my head and I fell. Before I could get up she put her shoe on my neck, stopping my movement. "Echo is the winner. Depending on the results I know which clans you'll be apart of. Your bedrooms with be placed elsewhere, but everything in them will be the same, I assure you." Father told us and we nodded while sitting down. Echo shot an apologetic look and I just nodded sadly. I was always weaker than people, just never thought Echo knew how to fight at all.

"Echo, you'll be placed in the Fire Clan." Father said while shooting her a warm smile before frowning and turning to me. "You however are in the Tear. The guards will escort you to your rooms. Sage, I hope you try to get better if you wish to stay living in a room and not a cell." Father said before walking out. "Your bedrooms will be on opposite sections and Sage won't be allowed into the Fire section of the village." The man said and we nodded.

"However since Echo is in the fire she has free rein over the whole place and can visit if she wishes." He finished and we lightened up a bit. I mean I was placed into the weakest clan, but it would always be worse. We were taken to the place and the hall that I lived in was a huge diamond shape place with doors in them. I was brought to a door with my name and noticed nothing about it changed, despite the location. "I'll be leaving now, ask the people here if you need to know where things are." The guard said before disappearing. He literally vanished.

Once he left a couple people came out of rooms and looked at me. They all had abnormalities like mine, although I have yet to see what they look like. "You got assigned here?" A boy who looked a couple years older than me asked. "Obviously…" I mumbled while looking down. "Let me guess, your best friend showed you up?" He asked with a grin and I glared at him before turning my head. "Maybe…" I spat out and he frowned.

"Well whether you like it or not, we're now your family and allies. You best know that. I've been here for four years and Amy here has been here for five." He said while motioning to a girl who looked eighteen and she twirled a piece of hair between her fingers. She looked like a rabbit girl, so that's what I assumed she was. As for the boy who looked fifteen/sixteen appeared to be a dog.

"So what animal were you fused with, a Chihuahua?" He snickered and I shook my head. "A fox, you?" I asked him and he shrugged. "Great Dane, although I guess I wasn't great enough or I wouldn't be a dead last." He said and turned to the girl. "I'm just a plain rabbit…" She whispered and I nodded. "Let me show you around, here's the doors to rooms and if you go to the west and down the hallway you'll come to the dead last training room and go directly east you'll find yourself in the food hall. Go north and you have the library and go south you will come to a wall saying you can't cross it since you suck ass. Unless it's a Friday then you're allowed to go to the free for all training grounds which I'm sure you've already seen." He said while placing a hand on my shoulder.

"My names' Eric and as you might've figured out this is Amy. That room over there with the slightly fancier door is the so-called leader, Blake. He was fused with a bear yet is still a dead last, which makes us believe no matter what animal you have you're still capable of being pathetic." Eric said and I nodded. Wasn't he a ray of sunshine?

"We train in the mornings until the afternoon so we'll wake you up then. The library has various scrolls for jutsu that we're allowed to do and then there are some mangas in there from Naruto in case you wanted to study on the world through those." Eric explained and I nodded before they left me alone. I looked around and saw a clock saying it was about one in the afternoon so I decided to grab some lunch.

The place didn't have many people in there so I just went to my bedroom afterwards and fell asleep. I didn't wake up until I was woken for morning training.

* * *

_Yay an update. Not many people have read this story, but who cares? I certainly don't *goes into corner and cries* oh well. For those who are reading I hope you found this to be interesting in a slightly weird way. I love you all goodbye~_


	3. Placing

03

"I was told to wake you up for morning training…" A soft voice called and my eyes opened timidly as I saw a small girl with rabbit ears, Amy. "Give me a minute…" I said while I crawled out of my bed and threw on some clothes and brushed my hair. I probably should've taken a shower, but I was too lazy. I did however catch a glimpse of what I looked like. Short, sandy hair with over sized fox ears and of course my tail. My skin tone was still a white color and my eyes were now an onyx color.

"It's strange to see the differences, huh?" Amy stated and I nodded. Amy had snow-white hair and red eyes. Her hair was chin length and she was a small stature, slightly smaller than me. She took me to the training room and I looked around. There were maybe twenty people in the clan and I saw Eric walk up to me. "Since you're so new here, we'll have you work with the other new guy, Dex. He's been here for about three weeks now/ and is still week. He's fused with a hamster and he acts like one too." Eric said while pointing to a boy across the room with the targets.

He had shoulder length brown hair and tannish skin along with hamster ears and a small tail. He was wearing a plain white shirt and some black cargo pants and looked to be slightly taller than myself. "Go ahead and practice that throwing of yours. I heard you failed at it." He said and I nodded with a scowl while walking up to the kid.

"Hey, kid." I called out and the Dex kid turned around. "You're the new kid here?" He asked and I nodded my head. "My name is Sage." I said while holding my hand out for a handshake. He shook it while saying his name. "So how do you even hold these?" I asked, picking on up. "I'm not sure, Blake said it's like this." He said while moving my hand to the correct way of holding. It felt awkward but I kept testing the grip until it felt a bit better.

I threw it at the target and missed. Typical me. "It's easier if you point your foot to your target when you throw it." Dex said and I nodded my head before trying again. I tired again, and hit the target but outside of the circles. "Just keep trying, you'll get the hang of it. Blake said once we master this we can move onto sneaking around or taijutsu. Once we master those we can finally start chakra training!" Dex said and I noticed a small shimmer in his eye at the word chakra.

"What's charka?" I asked, aiming again and once again missing. "It's like an energy inside of you. It lets you do jutsus and walk on water and even let you become super powerful!" Dex said with excitement and I smiled. "Is that so, I guess I have a bit of motivation now." I chuckled while continuing on my throws. By the end of the day, I got one whole kunai within the actual target.

1 Week Later

"You suck." Dex said while I threw another kunai. It's been a week since I came here and after the third day, Echo has failed to visit me. My kunai skills were still shitty and I heard I also had to be able to throw shuriken as well, so chakra was a long way from me. "After this, want to hit the library. I heard that Chakra was made up of physical and mental energy, so we'll need to train our brains as well." Dex said and I nodded.

"Might as well, don't have a TV in this hell hole." I huffed, throwing and missing. "Well most people are already leaving, so shall we go?" He asked and I nodded. We walked to the rather large library and were amazed by the sheer size of the place. Dex apparently hadn't gone to the library yet, so he was in heaven. "Let's check out these books first. We can take books out if you want, so take as many as needed." Dex said and I nodded, grabbing a book on psychology of the shelf.

What the fuck was psychology? I didn't understand these books, but decided to read them either way. I sat down with the book in hand and Dex came next to me and started reading one of the many books in his stack. Some were stories, most were textbooks you ready at schools, like this book. I found out psychology was the scientific study of the mental functions and behaviors. The book was actually extremely interesting that I didn't realize how long I had been reading until I closed the book after finishing it. Dex was still reading besides me and I looked at the book. It was on chakra, typical.

I looked at the clock and realized it was dinnertime and nudged Dex out of the library to eat. The meals weren't as luxurious as the first two meals I receive when the servants gave them to me. These meals were still decent though and I was able to enjoy them.

Next Day

"Wake up, it's free for all day!" Dex said as I grumbled from my small hole. Dex was now the one who was tasked to wake me up, since he was an early riser. "I'm getting up…" I grumbled while stretching out and yawning loudly before rubbing my eyes and going to my closet. I heard the door close and got dressed in my usual and went with Dex.

Everyone was gathered at the south hall that we normally wouldn't be able to go through and it was opened. We walked as a group and got to the training room I had first seen. Dex smiled before running ahead of me. It was hard to believe he was a year older than me and I was more mature than him. Yes he was thirteen while I was still twelve, ah the wonders.

"Sage, let's go and find others!" Dex said before someone I didn't recognize placed a hand on his shoulder. "Blake!" Dex said while looking up at him. So this was the strongest one in our block. He had messy brown hair and light brown eyes. He had small ears on the top of his head and he was rather tall and wore a dark brown t-shirt with long sleeved fishnet under along with some black pants and ninja sandals.

"You have to practice your aim, it's just like any other day just a different room." He said and Dex sighed before nodding. Damn this guy was tall. "You, I haven't met you yet. I'm Blake." He said while waving and I nodded before waving back to him. "I'm Sage." I said while waving and he nodded. "What are you working on now?" He asked and I looked at Dex. "She sucks worse than me at throwing, so she'll be with me." Dex said while putting an arm around my shoulder.

"You're worse than Dex? That makes you the weakest one in the block." Blake said while putting his hand on his side. "Thanks…" I grumbled out while lowering my ears in disappointment. I was hoping this guy would be a bit nicer; this is what I get for hoping. "No problem now let me see for myself how shitty you are." He said with a chuckle while dragging us to the throwing section.

There were few people here, but it was more than usual for us. I was given a kunai and Blake instructed me to throw it how I usually threw it. I did, and I hit within the circle but far off from the center. "Well your stance is shit as well as your grip." He said while whistling and was suddenly behind me. "Here stand like this and hold the kunai like this." He said while positioning me the correct way.

His hand was on mine and he threw the kunai with my hand and it hit dead center. "See, not so hard." He said while standing up straight again. 'I only got it because I was helped…" I said while grabbing the kunai and positioning myself the same way he did before and got my grip right. I aimed it and it was slightly easier to control. "You'll get the hang of it." He said before waving off to do whatever eighteen year olds do. Wait…how old was he?

"How old is he?" I ended up asking Dex. "He's turning nineteen soon." He said, throwing a kunai then cheering once it hit almost on the bullseye. "Congrats." I said, throwing another kunai. "I'm doing pretty good, huh?" Dex said with his hands on his sides. "Sage…?" I heard a voice behind me and spun around. There she was, in all her glory. "Echo!" I shouted out before running up and hugging her.

"How have you been?" She asked me and I shrugged. "I'm practicing throwing." I said with a crooked grin. "Have you gotten better?" She asked me and I nodded. "A lot…where have you been?" I asked her and she looked at me with sad eyes. "Its just training is taking a lot out of me lately, I'm sorry Sage." She said and I smiled. "It's cool, it's all good. How far are you in training?" I asked her and she smiled.

"I'm practicing chakra control right now." She said while rubbing the back of her head. "Lucky, I have to master kunai and shuriken throwing not to mention taijutsu before I get to start on that." I said with a huff. "I'm doing all that right now. I don't get out of practice until dinner time and only get one break for lunch, what about you?" She asked me and I looked at her.

"I start training at around six and stop at lunch time for the day." I explained and she looked at me oddly. "So it's true…" She mumbled and I looked at her confused. "What's true?" I asked her and she covered her mouth. "It's just a rumor that the lower levels don't care about being stronger as much as us, so they slack off." Echo said and I frowned.

"It's not slacking if you do stuff after practice. I hit the library with Dex after practicing now." I said with my arms crossed. "Oh, I didn't mean you Sage. Like I said it's just a rumor. Besides we have to read right after dinner so you probably get to read far more than me." She said and I nodded. "Anyway, I have to get going back to my group…" Echo said and I nodded. "I'll see you the next time you can visit, or maybe next week at training." I suggested and she nodded.

"Echo, get back here. You need to train, get away from the dead lasts!" Some girl called and Echo froze. "Don't take what she says personally." Echo said and I glared over at the girl before looking at Echo. "Make sure to tell her I said to go and fuck herself for me, okay." I said and Echo chuckled a bit before running back to her group.

"Your friend is in the Fire?" Dex asked me and I nodded. "Ya, I was surprised she was so good at what she does." I said and Dex nodded. "Don't be, some people are just given the natural advantage over people." He said before getting back to practice. That's what we did until sun down, practiced. Although the words dead last left a nasty taste in the back of my head.


	4. Stuffs!

4 Days Later

"Bullseye bitches!" I cheered after hitting the center. Four days after being told how to throw it and the stance, I had gotten better a lot faster. Not to mention I stayed behind longer than the others while Dex hit the library. I was going to make sure I had an advantage to those stuck up fire pricks. I finished the set of the day and gathered all the used kunai and put them back before stretching out.

"You know, if you want a bigger advantage when you start Taijutsu you should run before and after your workouts, and preferably with weights." I heard a familiar voice say and I turned to see Blake. "Where are the weights?" I asked him and he smiled before leading me to a different section of the place that held some weights. "Here, these are some of the lightest weights." Blake said while handing them to me. They did feel rather light and I frowned.

"Can I get something a bit heavier?" I asked him and he grinned even larger before getting some more weights that were pretty heavy and I put them around my wrists and ankles. "I'll run alongside you and tell you when to stop. Remember, no walking." He said before I started to run. I hadn't even been a minute in when I started to slow down.

"Come on now, Sage. Don't tell me that's it. Keep this up and you'll really be dead last." Blake chuckled and it kept me motivated enough until Blake noticed I was about to pass out. "That should be good for the day, remember to come here for morning running. Also try to do some yoga before coming to run and after all meals." He said and I nodded.

I saw him start to do some weird yoga poses and I tried to mimic them. "What's the point in yoga?" I asked him, straining myself to keep the posture; I was failing horribly might I add. "It helps with your spiritual energy which you need for chakra." He informed me and I just nodded. Once we finished I was sore and tired. "Let's eat!" Blake announced and I looked at him with wide eye. How the hell this man still had energy after all this is a mystery to me.

We ended up eating together and he escorted me to my bedroom before waving me off. I went over to my bed and looked at the clock. I turned it to go off early morning instead of having Dex wake me up. Tomorrow would be absolute and total hell.

2 Days Later

According to Blake I was doing amazing and progressing faster than I had before now that I had motivation of being called dead last. It's only been two days but I've already learned the yoga poses Blake does and the weights are now a twenty-four-seven thing since Blake said it'd help in the long run. Something about a boy named Lee did the same thing and he was extremely strong and fast.

He also told me I should start reading up on this world, which I decided I would do if I had free time sometime soon, but training and studying was taking up most of my time. Maybe this was how Echo is feeling right now. I mean I'm still sore and everything since my body isn't used to these things yet, Blake said after a couple weeks I'd be just fine and dandy, so we'll see.

"Sage!" I heard Dex from behind me as I threw another shuriken. Shuriken training was a lot easier after you mastered kunai, since they are smaller and easier to aim. I had to be able to throw four at a time though and get them straight then do the same for kunai before I'm well enough to participate in taijutsu. "Yes, Dex?" I asked as he ran behind me with his book.

It was after hours for training, so we were the only two people in there, although I'm pretty sure that Blake was some where in here since he practices when everyone else is away, minus me or he'd never get to practice. "I found a scroll on chakra control! You can do amazing things with it like enhance hearing or vision and even put it on your limbs to create powerful blows!" Dex said with excitement and I looked vaguely interested.

"Really?" I asked, looking at the scroll in his hand and observed some pages of it. "Ah, you've found it." I heard Blake behind us and jumped slightly while glaring at him. "You would think with those big ears of yours you'd be able to hear a lot better, guess not. Oh well.' Blake said while looking down and my cheeks puffed up in annoyance. My hearing had gotten a lot better and I did hear him, just didn't expect him to pop up behind me.

"Now, now Dex. What did I say about chakra control?" Blake said and I saw Dex look down and mumble he was sorry. "How about we make a deal, if you guys do well this week at joint practice I'll make your schedule practice weaponry in the morning, then taijutsu, and after basic chakra exercises." Blake suggested and both Dex and I looked up at him with big eyes. "Really?" We asked him unison and he nodded. "Truly, I won't go back on my word. Now practice since it's in a couple days." He said and we both nodded in excitement and he left us, although I knew he was still in the room.

"Did you hear that?" Dex asked and I nodded. "Obviously, we're rising up in ranks!" I said, grabbing his hands and he smiled back before we let go and both started to practice. We were having a good time and ended up not finishing until late. Dex left before me since I still had to run and I let the happiness of knowing I'd get to learn chakra soon.

It was joint practice. It had actually been a day since the whole chakra episode and Dex and I were throwing objects like crazy. We were doing well with our aim, although excitement made them slightly sloppy. We were both laughing and joking around and such while throwing when I saw Echo from the corner of my eye. "Echo!" I called out while waving my hands at her. She looked up timidly and waved slightly before looking around then running over to me.

I hugged her the moment she was close to me and she smiled a bit. "How have you been?" I asked her and she shrugged. "I'm getting a lot stronger, you?" She asked me and I smirked. "I get to start Taijutsu and charka control training soon, Blake promised us." I said while grinning madly and she nodded her head. "It's not as fun as people make it out to be, you know. It takes a lot of concentration and such." She explained and I just nodded.

"I know, I know. Jeez Echo, I'm excited since the uses of chakra seem endless." I explained to her and she nodded in reply and looked down. "You seem a bit out of it…" I said while putting a hand on her arm. She flinched away and it hurt me a bit. "Sorry, I'm just being tested soon and I'm under a lot of pressure. If I pass I will start taking on missions immediately and everything, so I'm just a bit worried." She admitted and I smiled at her.

"You're so lucky you're strong. I want to get out of this place and see the outside again. It would be amazing to get a breath of fresh air once again." I sighed at the thought and Echo nodded. "Echo, hurry up you need to practice your kicks." The same girl from last time said and I looked at her and saw she had a scowl. "She's really a lot nicer once you get to know her. Good bye Sage." Echo said and hugged me before running off.

"Don't be surprised with her changes." I heard from behind me and looked and saw Blake. "What do you mean?" I asked him and he looked at me before placing to hands on my shoulders and bending down. "The higher ups are under a lot of pressure due to high expectations. They always change for the first. Eventually the friend you've grown to know will just be another hollow shell that this place has made some people. You should be happy you're in this clan, we have the least amount of pressure and have small evaluations once every other month to see if we've improved." Blake explained and I nodded.

"That won't happen to Echo, she's too sweet." I said while looking at my feet since they were now suddenly more interesting. "Let's hope so…" Blake mumbled and I nodded. "Once you're in a clan, you can't leave no matter what, huh?" I asked and he looked at my quizzically. "You can't, you're stuck here since they deem you can't get any better than this. Why? Do you want to leave us?" He asked and I shook my head frantically.

"I was just wondering just in case there was a way for Echo to come here with us…" I said and he smiled. "It can't happen, but it's good you don't want to leave us. After all, we're like a family. In this world clans are just a family from a bloodline but here is means so much more. It means a connection to the others here, we have to stick close to each other." He explained and I nodded with a large smile. "Got it!" I chuckled out and he nodded before messing up my hair and it felt strangely nice. I saw it's because of the whole animal instincts thing.

"Now for the amazing news, want to hear it?" He asked and I nodded enthusiastically and Dex ended up joining me as well. "The two of you get to start taijutsu and chakra training tomorrow. Amy will be in charge of chakra and Eric will help with taijutsu. Anyway, keep your practice up for now and I'll do a progress check the day before next free for all day, got it?" He asked and we both nodded before he disappeared much like that guard did a week or two ago.

"We finally get to do it." Dex said and I nodded. "About fucking time, huh?" I chuckled and he just nodded before we started to practice throwing and laughing even more at our new found accomplishment.


End file.
